Power In The Great Gatsby

Modern day society is made up of people who have many different living circumstances and make a wide range of money during their lives. These individuals are divided into groups in a hierarchy in the society which greatly determines a person’s power with the society. The types of power that a person could possess based on where they fall in society are economic, social, and cultural. Economic power is reliant on the amount of money and items of economic value that you own. Social power is gained from having many connections with people, giving you resources to go to. Cultural power is based on personal knowledge. In society, a person may have much of one type of power but not much of another. A person could also work up to gain power in any of the three categories of power. Being able to gain economic power and moving from one class in
Coming from a farm in North Dakota, Gatsby’s had not been taught by his parents much about proper dress or given much of an education. Gatsby had eventually gone to St. Olaf college, but had dropped out after two weeks in the institution. But once Gatsby had met Dan Cody and had gone on the five year voyage, Gatsby was able to learn the ways to act as an higher class individual. After Cody had died, Gatsby, “... was left with his singularly appropriate education...” (101). With the lessons taught by Cody and the new persona that he had conjured up for himself, Gatsby was able to blend in with people of higher status and gain respect. He worked hard to keep up his persona and to mantain his mannerisms. When speaking to people, Gatsby decides carefully about the words he uses and the way he behaves. When Nick first met Gatsby, he “... got the impression that he was picking his words with care” (48). Gatsby’s desire to mantain the power that he wanted gained caused him to create a persona and keep his mannerism in